Things Change

20 CommentsABOUT ME, MY BLOG, MY CHURCH

DAD ALWAYS SAID THAT GOD COULD BE A  BEER CAN.

That was the extent of my theological training. I now know better.

Things change.

20 years ago I would never have made the video below called “The Blasphemy Challenge 666.”

Things change.

19 years ago, on December 2, 1990, everything changed….

I used to sell stereo equipment out of the back of my car in the desert. One night while searching for witches’ covens in an open field at midnight, I challenged Satan to show himself.

He did.

I was also robbed at shotgun point by drug dealers (as a meth addict I didn’t have much discernment in friends).

I knocked on the apartment doors of strangers looking for a wife; I found a lost key and tried opening locks with it. The television spoke directly to me. Then I got a very clear vision that I was headed for Hell if I didn’t die….

Things change.

Such was my life before Christ. But things changed nineteen years ago when I understood that I needed a Savior.

I changed.

Revelation 12:11 says: “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony…”

Every evangelist—every Christian—has a testimony of what Christ has done in their life and should be able to articulate it in various lengths of time. I have a 30 second, 60 second, 5 minute, 10 minute, and 1 hour version.

My story is quite a roller coaster ride and I’d like to share it with you. This was presented to our congregation in the summer of 2003, six months before I made a commitment to share my faith everyday ( but that’s another story).

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN! (You may need to refresh the link once or twice until it works.)

Comments (20)

  1. Denis

    Reply

    Thank you for sharing. My testimony is similar. My nephew Ryan is near where i once was. Talk about looking in a mirror.

  2. dede

    Reply

    Happy 2nd-birth Birthday!!! No need to wish you many more…this one will be ETERNALLY more. : D

  3. Paul Latour

    Reply

    God has richly blessed you, Steve. I share a similar testimony. Well, maybe except for the door to door wife search. 🙂

    God is rich in love, mercy and grace that He would send His Son to die for and save wretches like us. Hallelujah!

  4. Dale in tx

    Reply

    Alright Steve!!

    I’m thankful for what the Lord did for you. You bring lots of encouragement to us each day.

    God bless you, brother.

  5. Nohm

    Reply

    I gotta ask… why would you have been searching for witches’ covens?

    Is it possible that you were, and maybe still are, mentally disturbed? I don’t ask that as an insult, but what you wrote above is very disconcerting.

  6. Steve Sanchez

    Reply

    Nohm: I was a drug addict. I’d stay up for two or more nights at a time and would do incredibly stupid things. You may listen to the whole story online with the link I provided; it’s pretty entertaining.

    As far as being mentally disturbed? That is certainly open to interpretation. 🙂

  7. Quasar

    Reply

    Hmm… so, Steve… do you truly believe that Satan showed himself to you? Or was that also a part of the hallucenations?

    Just trying to get a fix on where your mind is at…

  10. Steve Sanchez

    Reply

    For all who have questions about my mental state or what Satan looks like, or any other question about my story, please listen to it. Everything will be answered.

    After listening, ask me anything and I’d be happy to answer.

    Thanks for your support! 🙂

  11. ExPatMatt

    Reply

    Steve,

    I listened to your testimony.

    It was incredibly interesting and entertaining too; you’re a good speaker. I didn’t hear a description of Satan anywhere though.

    You talked about going into the field and challenging Satan to show himself and he didn’t…until 2 weeks later.

    Anyway, that’s not really important. I’m glad that you are now living a more healthy, rewarding and less selfish life – lots of people succumb to meth (and other drugs) so you were fortunate to get out of that cycle.

    Regards,

  12. Steve Sanchez

    Reply

    Thanks for listening.

    The way “I saw” Satan was through an overwhelming sense of evil, fear and dread. At the time I was not aware of the two “forces” contending for my soul. Not that God has to contend for anything, but that was my perspective at the time.

  13. ExPatMatt

    Reply

    Steve,

    “The way “I saw” Satan was through an overwhelming sense of evil, fear and dread”.

    So when you said…

    “One night while searching for witches’ covens in an open field at midnight, I challenged Satan to show himself.

    He did”.

    …you actually meant ‘I got a scary feeling while high on meth 2 weeks after I challenged Satan’?

    I gotta say, I’m a little disappointed. There’s a guy at Ray’s blog who wrestled a demon that looked like Mussolini (no joke).

    Ah well, have a great weekend.

  14. Steve Sanchez

    Reply

    Nope. A lot more than that. I haven’t listened to my testimony in awile, but I believe I gave the details: From a TV talking to me, to a literal vision of Heaven and Hell (satan or God?), to dread, fear… more than a scary feeling.

    You’d have to be there!

  15. Nohm

    Reply

    Steve said: “You’d have to be there!”

    Sorry, I’m not a tweaker, nor do I have any desire to be one. 🙂

  16. ExPatMatt

    Reply

    But still, when you said;

    “One night while searching for witches’ covens in an open field at midnight, I challenged Satan to show himself.

    He did”.

    What would you call that? Over-dramatization? Sensationalist reporting? Loose-truth? Lying?

    Why not just say that you didn’t see Satan?

    But then, in your testimony you made it clear that you had some kind of super-paranoia that us regular folks couldn’t even dream of, right?

    Regards,

  17. Steve Sanchez

    Reply

    Would you be satisfied if I said “felt Satan”? I don’t think it’s lying to say I “saw” something when I sensed a very real presence and actually experinced the supernatural.

    Over-dramatization, sensationalist reporting? Loose-truth? Lying? I’m okay with whatever you want to think.

    I like to think of it as good story-telling.

    Super-paranoia? Yep. Possibly drug induced, but still, it happened to “regular folk” like me.

  18. ExPatMatt

    Reply

    Steve,

    “Would you be satisfied if I said “felt Satan”?”.

    Sure. But you said that you challenged him to show himself….and he did. Only he didn’t.

    “I don’t think it’s lying to say I “saw” something when I sensed a very real presence and actually experinced [sic] the supernatural”.

    I do. You see with your eyes and that was the implication when you challenged Satan to ‘show’ himself. That’s not what happened, but you said it did – it might not be lying, but it’s not the truth either.

    And you say you experienced the supernatural….but you also note that you were tweaked out on meth at the time – are you sure you can tell the difference at a time like that?

    “Over-dramatization, sensationalist reporting? Loose-truth? Lying? I’m okay with whatever you want to think”.

    Why? Why are you okay with whatever I want to think about you. Your mission is to present the Gospel to me and, I imagine, to ensure that I’m receptive to its message, right? Surely then my opinion of you is important if I’m going to trust what you’re telling me about the Bible.

    Didn’t you say very recently – with regard to Darwin – that it was important to know the character of the man when assessing what he’s saying? Do you not think this is important anymore?

    “I like to think of it as good story-telling”.

    That may be. But you’re not telling it for entertainment purposes, are you? You’re telling it because you’re trying to get people to see The Truth. I’d say that honest reporting of events is important in this case.

    Cheers,

  20. Weemaryanne

    Reply

    “….Over-dramatization, sensationalist reporting? Loose-truth? Lying? I’m okay with whatever you want to think…..”

    Lemme get this straight:

    You don’t care whether we think you’re lying.

    ——————
    Huh.

    And yet, I’m told that your imaginary friend has a rule about not bearing false witness. I read that in a book. It was an old book. I’ll remember the title in a minute….

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *